Travel Bug-ket List

“There is no passion to be found playing small - 
in settling for a life that is less than 
the one you are capable of living.” 
- Nelson Mandela

Everyone has goals and dreams. From life lists or bucket lists, to things which you know you have to experience at one point in your life. This page is to showcase mine and to, in a sense, keep myself accountable. As I slowly ticket the things off my ever expanding list I will also be linking the posts to this page so keep checking back! So without further ado, here is my Travel Bug-ket List!

Personal

  • Get my pilots license
  • Do something newsworthy
  • Get a second passport
  • Graduate University (with honours!)
  • Fall in love
  • Adopt a child
  • Become fluent in French/Indonesian/Spanish/Italian/Cantonese
  • Learn to (properly) drive a manual car
  • Learn Krav Magra
  • Fill up a passport before it expires
  • Take my Mum on a trip to Bora Bora (her dream destination)
  • Say ‘Yes’ to everything for a week
  • Get a meaningful tattoo
  • Trace my aboriginal heritage
  • Be on ‘the Amazing Race’
  • Dance with Ellen Degeneras (or at least see a taping!)
  • Take a jewellery making course
  • Complete everything on my travel bug-ket list!

Travel Blogging and Writing

  • Have 1000/2000/5000/10,000 Twitter followers
  • Have 50/100/200/500/1000 Facebook followers
  • Build a following for my blog – 50/100/200/500/1000 RSS subscribers
  • Earn $100/$200/$500/$1000 p.m. from my site
  • Have an article Guest Posted on someones blog (Thanks to Nomadic Chicks Jeannie for making this one come true!)
  • Have an article printed
  • Be a well known resource and expert of a particular region of the world
  • Have an article printed in a major newspaper/on a major website
  • Be interviewed for TV
  • Have my own business card
  • Write a book

Geography

  • Climb a volcano
  • Set foot on a glacier
  • Experience the shift of two tectonic plates (aka – an earthquake)
  • Step foot on all Seven Continents

Animals
(which aren’t location dependent)

  • Giant Panda conservation
  • See Tigers up close (and maybe hold one!)
  • Learn to drive a sled pulled by sled-dogs
  • Swim with dolphins
  • Take a camel ride
  • Take an elephant ride
  • Hold an endangered species
  • Help protect an endangered species
  • Play soccer with elephants
  • Milk a cow

Events (General)

  • Go to the Olympics [this is set to happen in London!]
  • See the Redbull Flugtag

Sports

  • Get my SCUBA certification
  • Go white water rafting
  • Go sky diving
  • Go wind surfing
  • Go kite surfing
  • Go hang gliding
  • Go snowboarding (I’ve been but I want to make it down a run!)
  • Go skiing
  • Bungee jump
  • Fly on a trapeze
  • Learn to sail a boat
  • Sail a yacht
  • Be able to do a pull-up
  • Run across the Brooklyn Bridge, New York
  • Run across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Australia
  • Run across the San Francisco Bridge, US

Eating

  • Eat at one of Jamie Olivers restaurants (Pics to come!)
  • Eat at a Michelin starred restaurant
  • Eat at the top restaurant in the world
  • Pick strawberries/raspberries
  • Collect honey from a beehive
  • Drink a bottle of Dom Perignon with a bendy straw

Miscellaneous

  • Visit a tea plantation (and pick tea leaves!)
  • See Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights)
  • Drive the Pan-American Highway
  • See a geyser explode
  • Rock up to the airport and jump on the first flight out of there
  • Rock up to the train station and jump on the first train out of there (in Europe!)
  • Visit and make a difference in a tribal village
  • Ride in a hot air balloon
  • Ride a mechanical bull
  • Go zip lining
  • Stand under a waterfall
  • Jump off a big cliff
  • Be an extra in a film or TV show (Bollywood movie?!)
  • Send a message in a bottle
  • Shoot a gun
  • Sleep in a tree house
  • Sleep in an igloo
  • Teach English in a foreign country
  • Complete the 365-day photo project
  • Suck it up and survive a winter with snow [does surviving one of London's mildest winters count? It snowed only once whilst I was there!]
  • Stomp grapes with my feet to make wine
  • Meet real life pirates
  • Drive in a foreign country on the opposite side of the road
  • Take a road trip with no GPS or map
  • Couchsurf
  • Sing karaoke
  • Shower in the rain

Australasia

Australia

  • Step foot in every State and Territory (5 down, 3 to go!)
  • Drive from Darwin, Northern Territory to Adelaide, South Australia
  • SCUBA dive in the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland
  • Sail the Whitsunday Islands, Queensland
  • Swim with Great White Sharks in Port Elliot, South Australia
  • Go to Kangaroo Island, South Australia
  • Climb Ayers Rock/Uluru, Northern Territory
  • See Mission Bay, Northern Territory
  • Drive the Great Ocean Road (Okay, so I didn’t make it all the way to Warrnambool but I got damn close!)
  • See the 12 Apostles, Victoria

New Zealand

  • Go Zorbing
  • Jump of Sky Tower, Auckland
  • Bungee Jump
  • Bathe in the mud pools in Rotorua
  • Visit Napier (Art Deco city)
  • Walk the Milford Trek
  • Climb the world’s steepest road (Baldwin Street, Dunedin)
  • Sky dive the Sounds

Fiij

  • Participate in a Kava ceremony
  • Dive the Supermarket (see the SHARKS!)

Vanuatu

  • Experience the traditional island life
  • Dive Million Dollar Point near Santo
  • Dive the Coolidge Wreck near Santo
  • See the Millenium Caves near Santo

Tonga

  • See the first sunrise in the world on New Years Day

Samoa

  • Jump into To Sua Ocean Trench

China

  • Celebrate Chinese New Year [I celebrated in London but I'm not sure it's the same]
  • Walk the Great Wall of China
  • Eat dumplings for every meal for a week (I really REALLY like dumplings!)
  • Visit Thames Town
  • Walk along part of the Great Wall of China

Japan

  • Participate in a traditional tea ceremony
  • Visit Hiroshima
  • See the Cherry Blossom Festival
  • Take the Bullet Train
  • See Mount Fuji
  • Stay in a capsule hotel [You can read about my capsule hotel experience here!]
  • Spend a day only eating vending machine food (supposedly there is a huge range!)
  • Meet a Geisha

India

  • See the Taj Mahal
  • Learn about spices
  • Take part in Holi (can take part in India/Pakistan/Nepal)

Cambodia

  • Explore Angkor Wat

North Korea

  • Take a tour of North Korea
  • Play a round of golf on the most dangerous golf course in the world (DMZ between N.Korea and S.Korea)

South Korea

  • Learn to make traditional kimchi
  • Visit the themed cafes (5 in 5 days!)

Thailand

  • Take a boat down the Mekong River
  • Bring in the New Year with the Worlds Biggest Water Fight (Songkran)
  • Help out at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai

Nepal/Tibet

  • Climb to Mt Everests Base Camp

Mongolia

  • Sleep in a Ger
  • Learn to ride a horse like a Mongolian

Indonesia

  • Ride a motorcycle from one side of Indonesia into Papua New Guinea
  • Hike the whole Kokoda Trek

Laos

Europe

  • Visit each region of the former Soviet Republic
  • Ride the whole length of the Trans-Siberian Railway (Vodka Train) – Moscow to Beijing
  • Ride the whole length of the Orient Express – Paris to Istanbul

United Kingdom

  • Attend (and learn about) a Polo match
  • Go to Glastonbury Music Festival
  • Take on the infamous Circle Line Pub Crawl, London

Ireland (inc. Northern Ireland)

  • Drive around Ireland
  • Celebrate St Patricks Day in Dublin
  • Find a ‘Londonderry’ sign painted over so that it just reads ‘Derry’ (bonus points if I paint the sign)
  • Visit the Blarney Castle Gardens and see the Blarney Stone and poison gardens
  • Learn some basic phrases in Gaelic in the Gaeltacht

Germany

  • Drink down at Oktoberfest
  • Visit the Christmas Markets
  • Visit the Berlin Love Parade
  • Visit the Berlin Wall
  • Visit Check-Point Charlie

Italy

  • Learn to make homemade pasta from a Nonna
  • When my Dad retires take him to Emilia-Romagna for a road trip to Motorvalley, to make some Parmesan cheese in Parma (because he loves a big bowl of Spaghetti Bolognese!), and for a round or two of golf.
  • Make some parmesan cheese
  • Celebrate Carnivale in Venice
  • Ride a gondola in Venice
  • See people make glass in Munoro

Norway

  • Drive on the Storseisundetbrua which is one of the bridges along the Atlantic Road

Poland

  • Visit Auschwitz
  • Make vodka

Scotland

  • Visit the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Spain

  • Attend La Tomatina in Valencia
  • Take part (or at least see) the San Fermin Festival (Running of the Bulls) in Pamplona [Happening in July 2012! Check out 'Girls who Run with Bulls']
  • Attend the biggest party in the world called Las Fallas
  • Learn to cook Tapas
  • Get into the dance culture

France

  • Have a picnic under the Eiffel Tower in Paris
  • Ride a scooter (with beret) around Paris
  • Take touristy photos of… the Effiel Tower, the Arc du Triomphe, the Mona Lisa, and the Louvre
  • Visit the Medieval City in Carcassonne

The Netherlands

  • Celebrate Queen’s Day
  • Ride a bicycle around the city
  • Learn more about Tulips
  • Climb a Windmill

Croatia

  • Sail the islands of Croatia

Russia

  • Ride the Trans-Siberian Railway (VodkaTrain) from Moscow to Beijing
  • Visit Red Square, Moscow
  • See (and take plenty of photos of) Saint Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow
  • See (and take plenty of photos of) the Church of the Savior on Blood, Moscow
  • See the Winter Palace/Palace Square, Moscow

Ukraine

  • Visit Chernobyl

Africa

  • Be kissed by a Cheetah
  • Witness a voodoo ceremony
  • Go on a safari in the Serengeti
  • See the Victoria Falls on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe

Kenya

  • Visit the Masai people

South Africa

  • Swing through the trees like Tarzan (Titzicarmen National Park)
  • Spend a night in Kruger National Park
  • Abseil Table Mountain, Cape Town
  • See Afghan Penguins at Boulder Beach, Cape Town
  • Spend a night in Grahams Town
  • Jump the worlds biggest bungee

Namibia

  • See the Skeleton Coast

Zanzibar

  • Sail around Zanzibar

Tanzania

  • Climb Mt Kilimanjaro and watch the sun rise

 

The Middle East

  • Float in the Dead Sea

Jordan

  • Find something most tourists overlook at Petra and the Treasury

Morocco

  • Learn to cook traditional Moroccan food

Israel

  • Visit the Wailing Wall
  • Visit Bethlehem

Palestine

 

Turkey

  • Visit the Grand Bazaar (and out haggle the vendor!)
  • Drink proper Turkish coffee

Dubai

  • Go skiing in Dubai

Egypt

  • See the pyramids and sphinx
  • Take a boat down the Nile

 

North America

  • See Niagra Falls from both sides (US and Canada)

Canada

  • Step foot in every Province and Territory
  • Go to the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal

America

  • Step foot in every state (5 down, 52 to go!)
  • Drive across America
  • Spend New Years Eve in Times Square, New York
  • Climb the Statue of Liberty, New York
  • See the Red Wood Forests in California
  • Attend Burning Man in Nevada
  • Hike the Grand Canyon in Arizona
  • See the Space Needle in Seattle
  • See a Blues Band perform in Chicago
  • See the White House in Washington DC
  • Ride a cable car in San Francisco
  • Walk around Alcatraz
  • See Pearl Harbour in Hawaii and learn the history
  • Learn to do the Hula in Hawaii
  • Go to Lollapalooza in Chicago, Illinois
  • Go to Madi Gras in New Orleans
  • Attend a Hawaiian Luau

Mexico

  • Visit Chichen Itza
  • Celebrate Dia de los Muertos

Caribbean and Central America

  • Island hop for a month
  • Visit every island

Cuba

  • Visit Cuba

Costa Rica

  • Stay in a Tree House
  • Go Ziplining

South America

  • Visit the Amazon Jungle
  • Visit Tierra del Fuego (islands divided by Argentina and Chile)

Bolivia

  • Cycle the most dangerous road in the world in La Paz
  • Take photographs in the Salar de Uyuni (saltflats of Uyuni)
  • Visit the silver mines of Potosi
  • Take part in the Carnaval de Oruro

Brazil

  • Celebrate Carnivale in Rio de Janeiro
  • Take a tour of the favelas (slums)

Chile

  • Visit Easter Island

Peru

  • Hike the Inca Trail from Cuzco to Machu Picchu
  • Hike Colca Canyon (deepest canyon in the world) in Cuzco
  • See the Nazca Lines
  • Visit Iquitos

Ecuador

  • Go to Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World) in Quito
  • Send a letter from Post Office Bay in the Galapogos
  • Take the ‘devils nose’ train from Riobamba to Alusi

Belize

  • Scuba Dive the Great Blue Hole

Colombia

  • Hike to Ciudad perdida (the Lost City)
  • See the Zipaquira Salt Cathedral in Bogota

Antarctica

  • Step foot on Antarctica

For some more Bucket List styled travel inspiration check-out these wicked blogs!